The mess left behind at David’s Used Cars showed how high the water rose and how strong the current was, moving some cars as much as 100 yards and battering the windshield of a pickup truck with enough debris to break the glass.

People in Excelsior Springs said they can’t remember seeing anything like it.

Brad Eales and his crew at Eales Excavating worked hard Thursday to clean and take inventory of what was left.

“I lost a bunch of stoves, refrigerators, dishwashers and stuff,” he said.

Excelsior Flower & Gift also had some close calls with the water.

“It went a few short feet from going into the electricity box, and we would have been out of business,” said Marvin Shepard.

Excelsior Springs Mayor Ambrose Buckman is trying to look at the positive side, remembering that the last flooding of this magnitude was in 1993.